mjwx writes: A report published by Freedom House has placed Australia in fourth in Internet Freedom, below Estonia, the United States and Germany. Freedom House highlights the lack of acutal censorship in Australia pointing out that the highly unpopular proposed ISP level censorship has been shelved since the 2010 Australian election.

The report has information on only 37 countries, and Australia was in fourth place among those. Australia, Estonia, Germany, Italy, UK, US were the only "Western" countries included. The list contained many repressive countries such as Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. Conspicuously absent were countries such as Canada, Finland, Spain, and Sweden which probably would have been ranked fairly well.